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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Mexico investigating 3 former governors

Eugenio Hernandez, one of three former Tamaulipas Governors being investigated by Siedo, Mexico's federal organized crime task force, for links to organized crime. Read a profile of Governor Hernandez previously posted on Borderland Beat.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican federal prosecutors said Tuesday they have launched an investigation of former officials from the violence-wracked northern border state of Tamaulipas, and three ex-governors say they are the among those being probed.

Tamaulipas has been plagued by drug cartel violence and is the home base of two warring cartels, the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs. There have long been suspicions that state officials may have favored the once-dominant Gulf cartel, but that has never been proven.

In a statement issued early Tuesday, the Attorney General's Office has not said why the former officials are being investigated, but by necessity it would involve federal crimes. Organized crime, drug trafficking and money laundering are all considered federal offenses in Mexico.

The statement did not name the officials, but three former Tamaulipas governors confirmed that they had been targeted in the probe. Eugenio Hernandez, who left office in 2010, told local media he did not know why he was under investigation, and denied any links to organized crime.

Tomas Yarrington, whose term ended in 2004, wrote in a Twitter account linked to his website that he had learned he had been named in the case, and said he hoped authorities would explain why.

Manuel Cavazos, who left office in 1999, called the investigation "suspicious ... coming in an election campaign," and suggested it might have political overtones. He denied any wrongdoing.

All the former governors are members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which held Mexico'spresidency for 71 years until President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party won the 2000 presidential elections.

The PRI's de-facto presidential candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, currently leads in polls ahead of the July 1 elections.

The mysterious probe came to light because prosecutors asked transportation authorities to keep track of when the ex-officials entered or left the country. Prosecutors never prevented the officials from leaving the country, and only asked local transportation authorities to advise the office when they did so.

But the Attorney General's Office said one airport official in Tamaulipas overstepped his authority and actually issued a memo seeking to keep those named in the investigation from leaving the country.

The Communications and Transportation Department said the official had been removed from his post.

Cavazos said "it would not be the first time that law enforcement has been used for political purposes, that has been done since 2000."

Cavazos is running for a seat in the Senate, and Pena Nieto was scheduled to visit Tamaulipas on Feb. 2, according to the PRI.

Still fresh in most Mexicans' memories are the mass arrests carried out by federal prosecutors of 12 mayors and 23 other officials in the western state of Michoacan in 2009. All 35 were later acquitted and released.

Michoacan is another state that allegedly served as a home base for drug cartels, and the officials were arrested on charges they had protected the Michoacan-based La Familia cartel.

Politicians have long been under pressure from cartels in Tamaulipas. In 2010, gunmen believed linked to one of the cartels ambushed a convoy carrying the leading PRI gubernatorial candidate, Rodolfo Torre, killing him and four of his companions. Torre's brother then ran for and won the governorship.

If you’re a governor in Tamaulipas, you have no way out when it comes to organize crime. I am sure all three of these men are responsible (to some extent) for having links to organized crime. Whether it's money laundering, direct relations with the cartels, or simply by turning a blind eye.

In fact, La Jornada mentioned that a protected witness claimed that Yarrington knew of Torre Cantú’s death. It doesn’t surprise me at all.

It is a political move. But there is a lot of true to this charges, Politicos have their own cartel. There is corruption on al sides, but pri assholes sold their plazas knowing the shit was going to get bad, so they made their money and at the sametime put the blame on calderon to make the other party look bad. This was premeditated , how the fuck is the presidente responsable when YOU are the governor of state that u said u could fix during youre campaign? They should find proof that they were dealing with the cartels and extradite them to usa. Fucking thieves .

Big time fucking thieves, the proof is in their wealth,in ther assets, a very thorough AUDIT would expose it all. Also the wealth made by their close associates whom most are lawyers, judges, notario publicos, and so forth, Yes they have their own cartels, whom enforce with the same brutallity we have been seeing these last few years. Beware its NOT ONLY DRUG MONEY, IT'S STEALING OF BUISNESSES, LAND,PROPERTIES, EXTORTIONS, KIDNAPPINGS etc. The tyranny of these greedy S.O.B.s. DESPICABLE. TURNING A BLIND EYE AND ALLOWING THESE ATTROCITIES SHOULD BE GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION. Just audit the wealth of them and their families and very close friends and associates and ALL will be exposed.

Sorry ass PAN trying to look like they are above board. PAN are war mongers which is much worse. Are the investigating the Sinaloa Governor? I bet not.

Do you remember how Florida was so key in the election of George W Bush when his brother was Governor? This shit happens here too. Every year in Texas, the majority party spends most of their time not on bills that need to be taking care of but redistricting the voting to give their party an edge for the next election.

Look, the drug business is king in Mexico because the Government sucks up all the oil royalties so there is no business in that sector. Here in the US it is a lot different. But let me ask you this question. Do you really think large brief cases don't make it to every Governors Mansion in the US? Becoming that powerful has to be one of the most lucrative professions there is. They all seem to retire after their term with never a financial concern. From then on, they just walk around and shake hands.

All the former governors are members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which held Mexico'spresidency for 71 years until President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party won the 2000 presidential elections.

ARE YOU TELLING US FELIPE CALDERON HAS BEING IN POWER FOR 12 YEARS? ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT? DO YOU KNOW Vicente Fox?

Cavazos said "it would not be the first time that law enforcement has been used for political purposes, that has been done since 2000."

ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS? DO YOU KNOW WHO José López Portillo WAS?

Still fresh in most Mexicans' memories are the mass arrests carried out by federal prosecutors of 12 mayors and 23 other officials in the western state of Michoacan in 2009. All 35 were later acquitted and released.

STILL FRESH IS THE MASS ARREST PERPETRATED BY NEGRO DURAZO UNDER LOPEZ PORTILLO, MANY OF THE PEOPLE ARRESTED WERE NEVER SEEN AGAIN, SO I THINK THE MAYORS WERE LUCKIER THAN OTHER PEOPLE. AND PLEASE LETS NOT FORGET THAT THE SYSTEM IN MY BEAUTIFUL MEXICO IS REAL BAD STILL, I BELIEVE THE MAYORS WERE GUILTY.

They should have investigated all the Governors en Mexico. If I had the time, energy, and there were people here that had just little and I mean a little understanding of how politics work en Mexico. Governors get there cut on anything illegal that goes down in their states. In Durango one governor had in every “key” office a friend, compadre, brother etc. and those that were part of the sh*t they had going on end up death. Why they are investigating former governors? Simple, VOTES!!! Do they have something to do with what it’s going on en Tamaulipas? A huevo!!!People have memory problems, ex- president JLP and el Negro Durazo, what a cuple of rats. Can not make it clearer than that, those f*cker are the clearest “role model” other Mexicans have been perpetrating sexenio after sexenio. Don’t expect improvement, may be “changes”: New Gang is going to take over, by the way most real gang get together en las univeridades!!!. If you think that a bunch of ignorant people without education is going to have a sharp mind to organized such a big mess as it is en Mexico, you are wrong.